How was organized the shops during the Soviet era. Photo

So, friends — today is an interesting post about Soviet stores. I found a few interesting shots of the era, and thought that you too will be interested to see them and read about how everything was arranged in these boutiques is particularly interesting the fact that it was practically the same throughout the Union, with rare exceptions.

Lovers of the Soviet Union are of course begin to tell you what it’s all pictures and description already of the «damned nineties», and their personal cozy the USSR, it was completely different — but it’s most typical photographs of Soviet stores. Even in their not the worst time — for example, in the Stalin years, the stores did not have it.

How it all looked from the outside.

Soviet grocery stores in the cities can be divided into two types — the first type located on the first floor of residential buildings was common in homes built before about 1960-years of construction. In the seventies there was another type of store — a freestanding building on the model of Western supermarkets — they were built in the new districts and cities like Pripyat.

Both of these types of Soviet stores have in common one thing — a huge display window was always dusty. For the sake of interest look at pictures of Soviet grocery shopping is absolutely everywhere the Windows were dusty and dirty. On Windows it was possible to see simple drawings of all sorts of products — often they are United in groups at the Windows. For example, in one window paintings by oil, and milk in bags, on the other — meat, the third — vegetables (always allocated huge beets), and so on. The drawings were either carved out of something solid and pasted on the glass, or (more often) applied directly on the glass paint. This was done so the artists were cut from the cardboard stencils, then with a sponge applied paint on the glass.

On the glass display was glued, typically, the alarm sensors from the white, slightly transparent plastic. And at the back door of the shop (where we picked up food) hung, as a rule, blocks stun alarm metal box grey oblong glass shades — by the way, these things can now be seen on old buildings, where in Soviet times the shops were.

If the shop was in a residential house, then the backyard of a house quite brazenly and unceremoniously occupied the shop workers in the yard were always mountains of boxes (wooden and later plastic) were some cans, broken barrels lay broken trays from bread, broken bottles and stuff like that. However, standalone stores too this sin, and their «back yards» is also often overgrown landfills.

Backyard. Back room. Fraud.

Now let’s go inside Soviet shop — but we’ll do it not on the input side for buyers, but actually from where the store got the goods. As a rule, he got inside the store through the massive studded iron doors, which were closed from the inside with a deadbolt. In more modern freestanding stores doors were located approximately 1 meter from the ground to the store was convenient to roll the cart with the goods, which from the store in a van, grocery truck was thrown a metal ramp-ramp.

In this closed to the buyer of the store was the most interesting, it is here to be dissected were coming into the store meat — the best cuts, was postponed by the sellers for themselves, and to be sold «his people from under the counter», here diluted coming to the store in large cans sour cream — it was diluted with yogurt, thick cream (similar to the current 20-25% fat) to purchase in the USSR was almost impossible. There were other fraud — for example, it was possible to steal a whole box of scarce heavy cream or warm milk (with yellow cap), a cunning way of his charge — such as «boy» during the delivery or something else.

The most delicious in the world of Soviet bread got to the store too, via these back doors — and it was always handled in shop stalls. This was done so the bread of the host loader has advanced derevyanny tray racks from a special bread of the car, then dashing movement abruptly turned it 180 degrees, tilting at the exact same store the tray. Often bread and loaf when it fell on the dirty floor, but nobody cared, it raised the same loader and wiped his dirty hollow smock, put in place. Remember the Soviet bread, which was fresh and Magicka, but with some black mud on the side? That is, it is)

Here still it is necessary to tell and about cases of sale of any deficit from the rear doors of these stores, for example, in the eighties in Minsk thus sold bananas — scarce goods were being sold per hour at a price slightly above the shops, and then the sellers punched him in the checkout at the regular price, putting the difference in his pocket.

How it all looked inside.

Absolutely all Soviet stores all over the Soviet Union from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok were exactly the same. On the floor lay tile in dark colors, or (more often) the floors were self-leveling — concrete with granite chips. In the cold years, the floors were always dirty and slippery. It was not uncommon to see out of the back room comes the loader (most often — drunken, unshaven and in a dirty robe), and a special long hook with looped handle drags right through the mud for 4-5 boxes of milk, put on top of each other. Air conditioning systems in the Soviet boutiques did not have — often under the ceiling hung a huge fans for cooling in the summer.

Business equipment was also simple — milk and milk products standing in a long white refrigerators-showcases that are eternally rustled, shook, and on the back was filled with warmth — it was given from the refrigerating compartment directly to the store. Minced meat (or rather, those bones that’s left of him after the shenanigans in the back) always lay on the white trays-pans in the same refrigerator, but with a showcase of different design. The refrigerators had no ventilation, and the meat was always dried up and covered with some kind of yellow tinge. From time to time saleswoman rumbled these ditches, spilling meat juices inside the refrigerator, resulting in the meat Department was always a bit smelly spoiled meat.

Sausage often sliced in a pieces of 300-400-500 grams and waited for a buyer, wrapped in rough brown paper with pencil inscription «400», «300» etc. No «test weights» was not only in the Perestroika years because of the incredible in-store fraud has started to introduce electronic scales, and before that, the kits and the Elo was the norm. In the fish Department sold often only frozen Pollock and (sometimes) cask of salted herring, which was released wrapped in the same paper or newspaper.

The stinking was the produce Department — there always smelled like rotten cabbage and onions, and you could buy carrots and potatoes, about the same quality. Fresh cucumbers never had, the tomatoes were imported from time to time. Choose vegetables the buyer did not give, but gave what came to hand, and to the question — «is it possible to replace this squashed tomato», made a face and asked — «what’s the bad who will take Pushkin? Or maybe I should take it, in your opinion, huh?»

In addition to bread, milk, bones, the herring and onion with cabbage in Soviet shops there were several types of canned food — which always placed horickami often on display. Was still infinite melancholy jars with pickles and juice. From time to time to the stores imported some cookies, cakes and the best in the world of Soviet ice cream.